Multiple-spindle drilling machine



Dec. 17, 1929. J. L BERNARD ET AL 1,740,149

ULTIPLE SPINDLE DRILLING MACHINE Filed Dev. 16. 1927 z sheets-sneer 1PQM y M? Ma )fief/MW Dec.l 17, 1 929.

J. L. BERNARD :rr AL IIULTIPLE SPINDLE DRIL'LING MACHINE Filed vec. 16.i927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Der; l?, 1929 arr sTA'rs PATENT OFFICEJAMES L. BERNARD, OF BEAVER, AND JOI-EN L. SKEEHAN, F BADEN,PENNSYLVANIA e MULTIPLE-SPINDLE DRILLING MACHINE Application filedDecember 16, 1827'. Serial No. 240,556.

This invention relates to drilling machines and more particularly tomultiple spindle drilling machines, and has for its object the provisionof means whereby selected ones of ssaid spindles may be renderedinoperative, for movement into the work-piece, as desired. ln drillingmachines ot this type it has heretofore been necessary to remove thedrills from any spindles not necessary to drill the loholes desired ateach operation. in some instances one operation may necessitate the useot an entire gang of twelve or more drills, while the neil-t operationmay be that of drilling one, two or three holes. Therefore, it

would be necessary to remove all the drills except those inline with theholes to be drilledr ln thc very next operation, it may be necessary toagain use all the drills which would necessitate the remounting of allthe drills removed prior to the last operation.

From the above it will be readily understood that much of the operatorstime is taken up in removing and mounting the drills in the standardgang or multiple spindle Z5 drilling machines now in use.

The present invention overcomes the necessity for removing the drills,since any one or any number of the drill spindles may be r adilyrendered inoperative to feed into the work.

ln the drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, ot aportion oi"- a drilling machine made in accordance with our invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional side elevation ot the apparatus shown in Figure1.

Figure-s 5, 4 and 5 are sectional plans taken, respectively on the lineslili-HI, IV-IV and VmV oi' Figure 2 Referring more particularly to thedrawings, the letter A designates the drill column or stand whichsupports the usual drill head B. The drill head B is adapted to be movedon the drill column or stand A to feed the drills into the work.

The drill head B is of standard construction and has a plurality ofdrill spindles C jou'rnaled therein and connected to the drive shaft :2in the usual manner.

Following the established practice of Constructing universal joints toallow for lengthtelescopically mounted in the sleeve, 4, of the lowerjoint, and transmits motion of rotation to same by means of ley 4a. Thestem, 3, is shown attached to upper joint, and the sleeve, 4, is shownon the lower joint in this illustration, but the positions of the stemand sleeve may be reversed according to the taste or judgment ot thedesigner. In our invention the universal joints of spindle C are modi-;tied from the usual construction by the provision for greatertelescoping travel, on each other, of the stem, 3, and the sleeve, 4,than is ordinarily provided. This provision for eXtra travel is topermit the shortening of the section when the spindle is retracted asdescribed later.

A rigid spindle section 5 is connected to the sleeve portion 4 of theyieldable section by a universal joint 6, and terminates in a spindlehead 7 in which the drills 8 are mounted.

The drill head B terminates at its drill end in a bridge piece or plate9 having apertures through which the spindle sections 5 project. Asleeve 10 is mounted on each of the spindle sections 5 and said spindlesec-tions are free to rotate relative to saidsleeves. Anti-frictionbearings 12 and 13 are mounted between the respective ends of the sleeve10 and the ends of the spindle section 5. The anti-friction bearing 1Qbears against the universal joint 6 and the bearing 13 bears against thespindle head 7.

The sleeve 10 is provided with a keyway 15 and a key 16 is mounted inthe bridge piece 9 and the leyway 15 so as to permit the bridge piece toslide lengthwise relative to the sleeve 10 and to prevent'the sleeve 10from rotating` relative to the bridge piece. The sleeve 10 is providedwith shoulders 17 and 18 at its respective ends adapted to be engaged bythe bridge piece 9. Y

The bridge piece 9 is of materially less thickness than the length ofthe sleeve 10so as to provide for free movement oiz said bridge piecerelative to the sleeve 10 and spindle.

A coiled spring 2O is mounted around the yieldable section of thespindle and has one end engaged with the stem 3 and its other endengaged with the sleeve 4l so as to normally'maintain said parts inextended position.

It will be understood that if desired the spring 20 may be dispensedwith in a vertically disposed drilling` machine, since gravity may bedepended upon to maintain the drill spindles in extended position.

A gag member 22 is slidably mounted on the bridge piece 9 adjacent eachof the drill spindles and is provided with a U-shaped gag portion'23adapted to fit snugly between the shoulder 18 on the outer end of thesleeve 10 and the outer lace of the bridge piece so as to lock thebridge piece and sleeve against relative movement.

In operation, when all the drills are to be used to drill a work-piece,all the gags 22 will be moved toward the drill spindles so that theirgag portions 23 will be engaged around the sleeve 10 between the bridgeplate 9 and the shoulder 18. When the gags 22 are thus positioned, amovement of the drill head B toward the work-piece will cause the bridgepiece 9 to deliver a thrust through the gags 22 to the drill spindles soas to feed all of the drills into the work. Now, assuming that some ofthe drills are to remain inoperative in the next drilling operation, itwill only be necessary to withdraw the gags 22 from their gaggingposition, between the bridge piece 9 and shoulder 18, with the drillspindles to remain inoperative and to operate the drill head in theusual manner. The drills in the drill spindles from which the gags havebeen Withdrawn will not be fed into the work, due to the fact that thebridge piece 9 is free to move longitudinally relative to the spindles.

It will be readily understood that a number or operative drill spindlescan thus be readily changed by simply inserting or withdrawing the gags22 from between the bridge piece 9 and the lower end oi the spindles.

Vhile we have shown and described one specific embodiment of ourinvention, it will be understood that we do not wish to be limitedthereto since various modilications may be made-without departing fromthe scope oiE our invention as defined in the appended claim.

The combination with a drilling machine including a drill head, of aplurality of drill spindles mounted on said head, each of said spindleshaving a telescoping section, yielding means tending to normallymaintain said sections extended, sleeves in which the lower ends of saidspindles are rotatably mounted, anti-friction bearings at each end ofsaid sleeves to prevent relative longitudinal movement of the sleevesand said spindles, a bridge member slidable longitudinally relative tosaidsleeves, integral shoulders on the lower ends oi' said sleeves, andgag members slidably mounted on said bridge member, said gag membershaving a U-shaped gage portion adapted to be moved into and out ofposition between said bridge member and said .shoulders on saidspindles, said gag members when positioned between said bridge memberand said shoulders on said spindles being adapted to cause said bridgemember to move said spindles toward the work.

In testimony whereof, We have hereunto signed our names,

JAMES L. BERNARD. JOHN L. SKEEHAN.

